Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski came clean about her re-election chances in an interview with The New York Times. Murkowski is being primaried by a Trump backed Kelly Tshibaka.
Murkowski seems resigned to getting crushed in the primary despite Alaska’s new election system. “I may not be re-elected. It may be that Alaskans say, ‘Nope, we want to go with an absolute, down-the-line, always, always, 100-percent, never-question, rubber-stamp Republican,” she said about her challenger who has the backing of both Trump and the state GOP.
She continued: “And if they say that that’s the way that Alaska has gone — kind of the same direction that so many other parts of the country have gone — I have to accept that.
“But I’m going to give them the option.
Lisa Murkowski has been rated 49% by the American Conservative Union Foundation. The data shows she has gone very Left! She was rated lowest on:
-Government Integrity and Transparency
-Taxes, Budget and Spending
-Human Dignity
It’s time for a change! pic.twitter.com/Vevi37w3t2
— Kelly Tshibaka – Text KELLY to 20903 (@KellyForAlaska) April 27, 2022
“Maybe I am just completely politically naïve, and this ship has sailed.
“But I won’t know unless we — unless I — stay out there and give Alaskans the opportunity to weigh in.”
Tshibaka said recently:
“I’m completely focused on Lisa Murkowski and the damage that she’s done and the fact that she serves as Biden’s chief enabling officer, helping him every step of the way.”
From Alaska Public Media:
Tshibaka claimed Murkowski was helping the agenda of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, with her vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson — whom Tshibaka described as a “leftist judge” — to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the same time, she criticized Murkowski for not backing two Trump nominees to the court, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Murkowski opposed and later voted “present” on Kavanaugh’s nomination. She voted to confirm Barrett in 2020, after earlier saying she did not support taking up a nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy so close to a presidential election.
Tshibaka chastised Murkowski for supporting other Biden nominees, including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
“These are not the votes that a senator from Alaska should be casting,” Tshibaka said. “Murkowski has made poor decisions like this over and over, and we, the people of Alaska, continue to pay the price for her popularity in Washington, D.C.”
Tshibaka is a former commissioner in the Alaska Department of Administration. She formerly worked in the offices of inspector general for the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice before joining the administration of Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, according to her resume.
